The University of Miami is a leading private research university (not, note, a public university) with over 12,000 degree-seeking undergraduates in Miami, Florida. They group students into 9 undergraduate schools and colleges, maintaining a small student to faculty ratio of only 11:1. Despite having such a large undergraduate student body, half of all undergraduate classes have 17 or fewer students. The acceptance rate is about 19%.
How to Write the University of Wisconsin-Madison Supplement 2025-2026
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a highly-respected large public research university in Madison, Wisconsin. Students love Madison for mixing strong academics with broad opportunities and an iconic culture. Greek life and athletics are big at Wisconsin, and help to define the social experience whether or not you want to join a Greek organization or cheer on the Badgers in basketball. There are nearly 37,000 undergraduate students, and they receive over 65,000 applications for first-year admission annually. The overall acceptance rate, including in-state and out-of-state applicants, is 45%. Remember though, if you are applying from outside of Wisconsin your chances of admission are undoubtedly far lower than that 45%. Way back in 2018, the university shared that they aimed to admit 2/3rd of Wisconsin applicants. Using some back-of-the-envelope math, that means that about 25% of out-of-state applicants were accepted to reach a 45% overall acceptance rate.
How to Write the Williams College Supplement 2025-2026
Williams is an iconic liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Home to about 2,000 undergraduate students, the college is particularly popular with students pursuing majors in biology, psychology, history, mathematics, political science, computer science, English, art, and most of all economics. This highlights the intellectual diversity of the Williams community, with students pursuing the hard sciences and the humanities hand-in-hand. At the core of this is the Williams liberal arts foundation. This has made Williams a coveted school for top-performing students, driving down the acceptance rate to only 8.5%.
How to Write the Northwestern Supplement 2025-2026
Northwestern is a top research university in Evanston, Illinois that has become iconic for combining a collaborative learning environment with innovative hands-on research opportunities. They have a top engineering program, a top business school, a top education program (as in teaching future teachers), a top speech-language pathology program. If that sounds diverse, it is. Northwestern doesn’t pigeonhole themselves, and they excel across the board. It’s not surprising, then, that it isn’t easy to get in. There are about 8,000 undergraduate students, and the acceptance rate is under 8%.
How to Write the Johns Hopkins Supplement 2023-2024
Johns Hopkins University is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It’s actually the first research university in America. As you might guess, research is a pretty big deal there. They are especially known for their Biomedical engineering and public health majors. The school is also popular with Pre-meds. In the past, their acceptance rate has been around 8%; however, they did not release their acceptance rate for the class of 2026.
Common Supplement Essay Question Guide and Examples 2024-2025
Ah, supplemental essays. Some schools have none, some schools have one or two, and some schools have, like, seven. But, in the chaos of supplemental essays, a few standard questions rise above the rest. As you may have noticed as you work through the schools on your list, a lot of schools are asking the same questions. Maybe they have a little twist to them, or are more narrow than others, or ask you to connect to something unique, but the fundamental questions they’re asking are the same. In this post, we’re going to break down how to answer four of the most common supplemental questions we see every year.
College Essay Question about Community: Guide and Examples 2024-2025
Ah, the classic community essay! The ol’ standby! This essay is probably the most common prompt behind the “Why” essay that so many schools ask. You can spot a community essay from a mile away – it almost always has the word community in it, but it also might ask about your background, lived experiences, or something a little more broad. You can really spot a community essay if it asks you to connect back to the community at that school.
How To Answer the Diversity College Essay Question 2024-2025
This year, we’ve seen a big increase in the number of Diversity questions – ones that ask about your background, identity, culture, etc. Last year, we predicted you’d see an increase in these types of prompts in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, because colleges are, above all, reactionary. The decision left a big loophole, which allows colleges to consider race if it’s mentioned in an essay, and many colleges decided to help you take advantage of that loophole by adding this prompt.
The Disagreement College Essay Question Guide and Examples 2024-2025
If you’re here, you probably are trying to figure out how to ask this year’s hottest new addition to college supplements: the disagreement questions. And guess what? You’re not alone. This question is present in a ton of supplements this year, and it trips up even the most prepared applicants. Good thing we’re here, because we can help.
Why This College Essay Question Guide and Examples 2024-2025
Why do you want to go to school here? If there’s one prompt you are certain to write more than once, it’s this one. This prompt comes in a few different flavors, but at the end of the day, they all want to know why their school is the perfect school for you and why you’re the perfect student for them. No pressure or anything.
How to Write the Santa Clara University Supplement 2024-2025
Santa Clara University (SCU) is a private Jesuit university located in, you guessed it, Santa Clara. It’s also the oldest college in California. SCU is known for their social sciences (just look up how many politicians and fancy government people have gone here – it’s wild!) and business programs and the proximity to Silicon Valley is great for students who want to break into tech. We think SCU is a bit of a sleeper school, and think it’ll jump in popularity over the next few years. Last cycle, SCU had a record-breaking number of applications and had an acceptance rate of 47%. They’re also test-optional through this year, and it’s good to note that 41% of admitted students didn’t submit scores.
How to Write the Rice University Supplement 2024-2025
Located in Beyonce’s hometown of Houston, Rice University is a private research university known for their very strong and very competitive STEM programs, as well as a solid business school. Rice is a very hard school to get into; last cycle, they had a 16% acceptance rate for ED and EDII and a 7% RD acceptance rate. Rice is also continuing their test-optional policy this year, but we don’t recommend applying without scores – it’s an 8% acceptance rate overall, and their middle 50% for the ACT and SAT were 34-36 and 1500-1560, respectively.
How to Write the MIT Application 2024-2025
MIT is one of the preeminent engineering, science, math, and technology universities in the world. Officially called the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There are about 4,500 undergraduate students, and the acceptance rate for the Class of 2027 was 4.8%. For the Class of 2028, it dropped to 4.5%. The Early Action acceptance rate was only a little bit higher at 5.3%, and the acceptance rate for international students was terrifyingly low at only 2%.
How to Write the Amherst Supplement 2024-2025
Amherst College is an exceptional college full of passionate, engaged, and inquisitive students and community-members in Amherst, Massachusetts, about an hour and a half from Boston. There are just under 2,000 students, and about half are domestic students of color. As part of the Five College Consortium, students at Amherst have access to the courses and resources of Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Hampshire, and the University of Massachusetts. The vast majority of classes have less than 30 students, and there are 42 majors. The acceptance rate is 10%.
How to Write the Georgetown Application 2024-2025
Liberal arts and research university with a Jesuit foundation and a sterling reputation today as a place of exceptional education, scholarship, and community. Located in Washington, D.C., Georgetown is also deeply tied to the political and policy-making community, and many students go there because they are interested in going into government or public service. The acceptance rate is 13%.
How to Write the Yale Supplement 2024-2025
Yale is universally recognized as one of the best universities in the world. A member of the vaunted Ivy League, Yale has one of the best undergraduate programs in every single subject they offer. The 6,750ish undergraduate student fight hard to get there. Yale receives nearly 60,000 applications for only about 1,600 spots per class. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2028 was only 3.7%, the lowest acceptance rate in the history of the university.
How to Write the USC Supplement 2024-2025
Don’t be fooled by its name, The University of Southern California is not a UC school. Instead, it's a mid-sized private research university in Downtown Los Angeles. USC is actually the state’s oldest private research institution. The school is famous for its media programs and sports; however, they have a whopping 350 academic program options and over 1,000 student organizations.
How to Write the Lehigh University Supplement 2024-2025
Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is known for pairing a well-respected academic program with a lively and much-beloved social scene centered on Greek Life. They’re also well-respected for offering unique programs that augment the value of your college degree. Lehigh offers a variety of 4+1 programs (masters and bachelors degree in 5 years) to their 5,800 undergraduates across the College of Business, College of Education, College of Engineering, and the College of Health. The Lehigh Launch program kicks off your college experience with a semester in the American West or Santiago, Chile. These programs help make Lehigh so popular. The acceptance rate for the class of 2027 was just under 30%. In 2024, the university saw a 30% increase in Early Decision applications, reducing the acceptance. Basically, it’s only getting more popular.
How to Write the Colorado College Supplement 2024-2025
Located in gorgeous Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado College (CC) is a very, very unique school that attracts unique students. They’re known for their innovative Block Plan, where students immerse themselves in one class for a whole month, which allows for creative applications like going to D.C. to study policy, camping under the stars for astronomy students, living in the mountains while you get your rock on, or spending a whole month learning nothing but Spanish. Students who are drawn to CC are like, seriously drawn to the school. They’re known for having a crazy low RD acceptance rate (less than 10%), and accept the vast majority of their students from ED, EA, and ED 2. CC is also test optional, and has a very wide range in their middle 50 (1250-1450 SAT, 29-34 ACT). This is because CC says: “Colorado College does not penalize those who submit test scores and will ignore scores that do not strengthen an applicant's candidacy.” Very unique!
How to Write the Colby College Supplement 2024-2025
Colby College (not named after the cheese) is a small, liberal arts college located in Waterville, Maine. Honestly, we are refreshed to write about a small liberal arts school not named after the town it’s in, so go off Colby! Because it’s located in Maine, Colby is a part of a consortium with Bates and Bowdoin, and it competes in the NESCAC. Colby isn’t an Ivy, but it boasts Ivy acceptance rates, with the Class of 2028 boasting a 6% acceptance rate. And here’s the kicker: there’s no supplement.